Nobody was thrilled about Franz Watzlawick’s divorce.

With one season left on his three-year contract, Watzlawick and Ricciardo have just parted ways after two largely challenging seasons with the team—barring an exceptional victory at the Italian Grand Prix in 2021.

It was not what McLaren or the 34-year-old had expected when he joined up, and the relationship ended when the team failed to match Ricciardo’s driving style to the vehicle. Ricciardo was left to make ineffective attempts at adjustments, which made him question if he had lost his way.

In early July, a tire test at Silverstone helped propel Ricciardo back into Formula One with AlphaTauri, replacing Nyck de Vries.

After breaking a bone in his left hand in a crash during the Dutch Grand Prix practice, Ricciardo’s season was cut short. He missed five races before making a comeback for the remaining few.

Brown maintains that there was never any residual resentment against Ricciardo because of his exit and the fact that their relationship did not work out.

Speaking to a restricted group of journalists, including Speedcafe, Brown expressed her happiness at Daniel returning to Formula 1.

Daniel has consistently been a pleasure to work with and a wonderful friend. No one was ever happy after a divorce.

Thus, I’m overjoyed that he’s back online. We continue to correspond through notes on a semi-regular basis, so I’m glad our relationship has endured.

The addition of Oscar Piastri is seen as a missing piece in the larger McLaren puzzle after Ricciardo’s departure.

A shift in leadership occurred when Andrea Stella took over as team principal in place of Andreas Seidl, quickly overhauling the technical division.

The introduction of a brand-new, cutting-edge wind tunnel in the middle of the year is expected to have an impact on the vehicles of the following year.

Because of McLaren’s progress with its MCL60 this year, if the season had started at that time, the team and Lando Norris would have finished second in the constructors’ and drivers’ titles over the final 14 grand prix following the introduction of upgrades in Austria.

Brown is ecstatic about how McLaren is developing and the foundation it has created for success until 2024.

According to Brown, we have the team, and I believe we also have the technology and the resources.

All that’s left to do is keep moving forward with the culture and performance. I think the pit stops are fantastic because they show how effectively the team is collaborating.

All we need to do is instill that pitstop mentality throughout the entire racing organization, and I believe we can succeed.

He continued, offering an alternative assessment of McLaren’s current state: Andrea employs this pie chart vocabulary that he uses to describe world championship material.

After beginning at half green, a quarter amber, and a quarter red, it is currently at seventy-five percent green, with the amber and red being less.

I believe that we only need a little more time to reach a complete agreement.